A key component of any business is the development of a brand identity that separates your company from the competition in a unique and inviting way. One very competitive market is dessert shops. Certainly taste is the critical factor, but appearance also helps bring customers to the door. Recognizing the importance of creating a strong brand, High Five Yogurt selected a vibrant color palette for their stores to emphasize a clean, fun, comfortable environment. However, achieving the desired color scheme proved to be a major challenge and required creative solutions by the concrete flooring contractor.

For their approximately 1,100-square-foot retail stores, High Five Yogurt selected a color scheme of bright oranges and greens. The new stores were often moved into existing retail centers that had traditional concrete floors.

"We recognized that a traditional concrete floor base would not give High Five Yogurt the color palette they desired," said Carlos Perez, owner of Custom Concrete Designs FL in West Palm Beach, Fla. — the concrete flooring contractor for the project. "We then began to look for a solution that could meet the owner's needs."

Custom Concrete Designs had proven experience with CTS Cement Manufacturing Corporation's Rapid Set TRU Self-Leveling product since 2008. "Because of our experience with TRU Self-Leveling, we knew that overlay would achieve high early strength and cure to a light off-white color, making it ideal for a vibrantly colored floor."

Further, Custom Concrete Designs had used TRU Self-Leveling with the colorants manufactured by L.M. Scofield Company and knew that the two products worked well together.

"For the High Five Yogurt stores, Custom Concrete Designs used Scofield Formula One MP Lithium Densifier, Formula One Dye Concentrate and Formula One Finish Cost," said Stephen Rissi, CDT and district manager at Scofield Company. "The three products are ideal for achieving high-end architectural polished concrete floors that offer long-term durability and reduce maintenance costs."

"The contractor was faced with the challenge of an existing concrete floor that had been damaged due to wear and tear at an existing storefront," said Jose Ruiz, contractor sales manager at Rapid Set Cement. "They knew they would not be able to achieve the vibrant color with the damage, so they decided to use TRU Self-Leveling as an overlay with Scofield colorant."

This proved to be an excellent match and the owner was so pleased with the result that TRU Self-Leveling and Scofield Systems became specified on three new stores. In addition to achieving the desired aesthetic, the use of TRU Self-Leveling and Scofield Systems colorants also saved tremendous time on the project.

"Without the use of TRU Self-Leveling, we would have had to rip out the existing concrete floor and place a new one," said Perez. "It would take 30 days for the floor to properly cure before it could be polished, which would have been a significant delay on the project."

Perez notes that TRU Self-Leveling allowed the crews to work on the overlay after a mere six hours and polish the floor within 24 hours. Since the interior build-out of these retail stores can be done fairly quickly, waiting for the concrete to cure after removal would have impacted the ability for the store to open.

Also adding to the schedule benefits, Perez explained that the product is user-friendly and his crews were able to incorporate it into their toolkit easily. "As with any product, there are certain requirements that we follow to ensure maximum success," said Perez. "It is important to achieve a temperature of 75 degrees in the area to get the material to perform properly and also pay close attention to water temperature and water ratio."

For the three High Five Yogurt stores in Florida, Perez used 75 bags of TRU Self-Leveling per store. This allowed for a 3/8-inch thickness and approximately 15 to 17 square feet per bag.

"I highly recommend TRU Self-Leveling for quick turnaround projects with a high degree of aesthetic appeal," said Perez. "The material performs exactly as we would like and our clients have been extraordinarily pleased with the results."